So, imagine your county slaps an over 2% annual property tax on the value of your home (insane do the math for your home, you'll die!!!!) and then your school sends home the following list for just ONE of your students (some people have 3-4 kids in school):
2009-2010 First Grade Supply List
Non-rolling backpack
2 Wide ruled 70 page spiral notebooks
2 Plain pocket folders
1 Pair of child’s Fiskar scissors
2 Boxes of 24 count crayons
1 Box of 8 count markers
2 Packages of pre-sharpened #2 pencils
6 Glue sticks
2 Bottles of glue
2 Packages of pencil top erasers
1 Small supply pouch or box
2 Reams of Xerox copy paper
2 Boxes of tissues
2 Bottles of antibacterial (waterless) hand sanitizer
1 Container of Clorox wipes
1 Box of baby wipes
Okay so maybe it only comes to like $35/child or so, but you would think in a city that has one of the highest property taxes in the nation, they would buy their own paper. Dad, Cory, is this normal??? Do I just need to suck it up as a new school mom and realize this is how schools get their supplies? I guess I would be more patient if it weren't for the 2% Thing. We don't pay property tax right now because we're renting (the owners pay it) but it is one of the things that is making buying a home here so difficult. The mortgage you can qualify for includes the price of property tax. The house we're living in is over $500 a month in property tax! That means we would go from qualifying for a house whose mortgage payment was $1300 to needing to qualify for an $1800 a month payment. That's a huge change in the type of house you can afford! ( Not to mention the price of homes seem slightly over-inflated for the times.) Well, I know there's a lot more for me to learn about the system here before I drum up a huge fight against the local government. I don't know why more people don't put up a bigger stink about the excessive property taxation. (Blah, blah, no income tax, blah, blah, that answer isn't working for me.) Man, I could sure use Shar as a Gainesville citizen right now...
Today's Florida Family
Family in Florida
Our first month in Florida. Yes, London is instinctively putting her hand in the alligators mouth!
Without her bow, London is just one of the boys!
2 comments:
I know, I felt exactly the same way that you feel right now. I couldn't understand why people were so backwards here in the South, and why nobody would do anything about it...well guess what? I've become one of them! This is the third school year that I'll be making my annual trek to Walmart to shell out a couple hundred bucks in school supplies. No, that doesn't include shoes, backpacks, lunch boxes, clothers. That's just regular old pencil, glue, paper type of school supplies!
So on school supplies - that list is nothing. Wait until you get into the higher grades. I did supply shopping for my kids who are going into K, 1st and 4th and the total was $150. And I did the shopping at the cheapest places I could find. And yeah - like Lauren said, that's not including all the other junk you need to get. I'm estimating (conservatively) that to get them all outfitted and ready to go this fall is going to run me about $500.
On the property tax thing...
That's what happens when you live in a state with no income tax. Our property tax rates are ridiculous. I pay about $600 per month in taxes/insurance on top of my mortgage. Oh AND they assessed my house higher last year so my mortgage went up $80. When we all questioned why, they said the values were based on the year previous so that was when the homes were worth more. We won't see a reduction (in theory) until next year.
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